Creative Writing Workshops

As part of the International Year of the Forest, Perth & Kinross Countryside Trust has joined forces with local writer Linda Cracknell to host a series of creative writing workshops on Big Tree Country (BTC) sites. The area already has some strong literary connections – Burns, Beatrix Potter, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson have all spent time in our stunning countryside. The workshops hope to inspire new writers to explore their own associations with landscape through writing.

There will be six workshops, three of which will be aimed at adults and three at high school children, based in a tipi situated on BTC sites: Birks of Aberfeldy; Kinnoull Hill and MacRosty Park in Crieff. The day will begin with a guided walk led by plant collector David Douglas to loosen everyone up and encourage them to engage all their senses as they consider the kind of language used to write about a place.

Linda Cracknell said: ‘We’re hoping that a range of people will take part, from those who are already keen writers, to those that like the idea of writing but have yet to put pen to paper. Participants will learn to sharpen their written responses to a particular place using observation, imagination and, where appropriate, drawing on memory. Most of all, the day should be creative and fun.’

Linda Cracknell lives in Highland Perthshire where she writes prose and radio drama including two published collections of short fiction Life Drawing (NWP, 2000) and The Searching Glance (Salt, 2008). A Creative Scotland Award in 2007 launched her into writing creative non-fiction about a series of journeys on foot, each of which followed a story or theme. She is editor of a non-fiction anthology on the wild places of Britain and Ireland, A Wilder Vein, (Two Ravens Press, 2009).

Linda was writing fellow at Brownsbank Cottage 2002-5, and has tutored many workshops including Arvon Foundation courses. She has facilitated creative writing as part of a number of major school projects focussing on themes as diverse as stars and constellations and a long distance footpath. She is currently a Royal Literary Fund fellow at Stirling University.

Angela Hughes, PKCT project officer said: ‘It’s great to be working with Linda who has lots of experience in this kind of writing. We are always looking at innovative ways to help foster links between Big Tree Country and the people who live here, and visit.

‘The idea for the project came from an informal chat with Linda when she presented our annual awards. Thanks to International Year of the Forest funding from Forestry Commission Scotland, it’s grown into an exciting project which we hope will eventually lead to a published anthology of new and established writers influenced by the Perthshire landscape.’

The workshops aimed at local students will be organised through high schools in the area. The aim is to target Advanced English classes who may benefit hugely from a day spent with an established writer acting as an inspiration and mentor.

For the other workshops, members of the public who would like to take part should send their name, contact details and the location they would prefer to Perth & Kinross Countryside Trust, Pullar House, 35 Kinnoull Street, Perth PH1 5GD or email pmclennan@pkct.org.

Dates and locations: Kinnoull Hill – Saturday 1 October; Birks of Aberfeldy – Saturday 8 October; MacRosty Park, Crieff – Saturday 15 October.

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